LEFT-CENTER-RIGHT SEA DAYS

A 17-day Transatlantic cruise would not normally be one that a “first time cruiser” would choose but as a seasoned traveler, I love sea days.  This is the time for me to meet new people, nurture friendships, learn new things, try new foods, play games and a myriad of other things.  In fact, with so many things to chose from I have trouble deciding which activities to attend.

Here is a very short list of a few of the activities I experienced on this cruise. 

Astronomy Lessons

Sitting in the Hot tub

Walking the ship

Solo traveler gatherings

Constellation Viewings

Acupunture Lectures

Art Auctions

Emerald Lectures

Art Lectures

Meet & Greet Party

Champagne Parties

Gift Exchange

Lounge Music

Cabin Crawl

Slot Tournament

Hypnosis seminar

Left-Center-Right games

Meet the Entertainers

Cruise Passengers Talent Show

Panel Discussions with Cruise Staff

Daily movies

Team Trivia

Some cruisers, like my husband, simply want to do nothing but read and take naps.  This is what makes cruising attractive to me.  In our earlier days of cruising, back in the 80’s and 90’s, we packed a set of walkie-talkies to keep in touch with each other. With current technology, a simple text message with my smartphone does the trick, allowing us to quickly find each other.

With over 100 Cruise Critics on this cruise there were lots of planned activities.  One of my favorite sea day activities came to be the LCR game.  Called Left-Center-Right, I was not familiar with the game prior to the cruise so did not go to the first two games, which were scheduled each sea day at 1:00pm.   However, after playing this game once I was immediately hooked and made sure to show up whenever it was offered. 

LCR or Left-Center-Right is a fast-paced dice game for three or more players, published by George & Company LLC in 1992. It is entirely a game of chance with no skill or thought required.  Maybe this is why I liked it so much.  Players make no decisions of any kind, even as to wagering.  The outcome is left entirely to the three dice that come in the game.  It can be purchased at any Walmart, Fred Meyer, Target or even online at Amazon.  The game uses three specially imprinted dice and three betting medium of your choice: chips, pennies, M and M's, unshelled peanuts, cookies, etc.  We used dollars.  I suppose one could use three $5 bills or three $10 bills, but for this cruise we each started with three $1 bills. 

Players then take turns rolling the six-sided dice, each of which is marked with “L”, “C”, “R” on one side, and a single dot on the three remaining sides. For each "L" or "R" thrown, the player must pass one betting medium - remember we used $1 bills - to the player to his left or right, respectively. A "C" indicates $1 to the center or pot. A dot has no affect, you simply retain your dollars and pass the dice to the next player.

If a player has fewer than $3 left, including zero, you are still in the game but how many dollars you have remaining is the number of dice you roll on you turn, rather than rolling all three. For example - If I only have $2 left you can only roll 2 dice.  If I have no dollars remaining I simply pass the dice without rolling and hope that my neighbors to my right and left will roll L's and R's and give me dollars back.  The winner is the last player with $1 remaining.  That person does not roll the dice and wins the center pot. 

Call it beginners luck but I was fortunate enough to win the pot on two occasions.  The first time we had a total of 33 people playing the game, taking about 90 minutes to complete.  I walked away with $99.    The second time I won we had a total of 54 people, played for 2 hours and I collected $161.   WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THIS GAME?  Don’t be afraid to try something new.  You might be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

My winnings from playing Left-Center-Right